[LowCountryJoe]

Nothing that extreme. Trade our surpluses for what we're incapable of producing.

I'll let the fact that you contradicted yourself slide. This revelation of your's is progress.
OK, what if we are capable of producing everything but some of those things are much more costly (in terms of labor) to produce in relation to other things that can be produced - things that bring consumers much more utility (satisfaction)? What if we couldn't possibly produce everything to meet the preferred domestic demand? Should we choose to skimp on things just because we're capable of producing everything but abhor someone else doing it for us more cheaply?

[hedgetrimmer]

Liberals are hostile to economic self-sufficiency - so strongly, that they believed in war to 'open up markets'. The most famous example is the Opium War, when Britain forced the Chinese Empire to allow the import of opium. This liberal belief in market expansionism has revived after the end of the Cold War.
--Liberalism, market, ethics